Literary notes about sacred (AI summary)
In literature, the word "sacred" is invoked to imbue a subject with an aura of inviolable reverence and transcendent significance. It functions to highlight themes ranging from the hallowed nature of moral obligations to the exalted status of religious relics, rites, and spaces. Notably, it elevates everyday duties and abstract concepts to a level of profound importance, as when an obligation is deemed sacred [1] or when sacred relics command deep-seated respect [2]. Equally, epic narratives employ "sacred" to characterize divine banners, ritual standards, and consecrated places that delineate the boundary between the mortal and the divine [3, 4, 5]. In doing so, authors across various eras underscore that some elements of human experience—be they ethical, cultural, or spiritual—are to be treated with an enduring, almost inviolable, sanctity.
- In my eyes an obligation is a sacred thing.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol - Her fortune enabled her to gratify the pious desire of obtaining some sacred relics from the East.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Over these floated the sacred standard, called “Le Beau-seant”, which was the ensign, as its name was the battle-cry, of the Templars.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - Who, pious, following his great father's fame, To sacred Pylos and to Sparta came."
— from The Odyssey by Homer - Saïs was one of the sacred cities of Egypt: its principal deities were Neith, who gave oracles there, and Isis.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo
